Jury recommends death sentences in 'Xbox slayings' trial

***wraggster*** · August 2nd, 2006, 22:40

After nearly three hours of deliberation Tuesday morning, a jury has recommended death for Troy Victorino, 29, and Jerone Hunter, 20, and life in prison for Michael Salas, 20. The three men have been convicted of six counts of first-degree murder. On August 6, 2004, Victorino, Hunter, and Salas, along with Robert Cannon (who would be tried separately, pending the withdrawal of his guilty plea) used aluminum baseball bats to beat to death six unsuspecting victims.

Media attention has focused on Victorino's Xbox, which had been in the possession of one of the victims, Erin Belanger, 22, at the time of the murders. Allegedly, the slayings were provoked by Victorino's desire to reclaim his Xbox and several other belongings, as well as enact revenge on Belanger for evicting him from her grandmother's home. Hunter and Salas' lawyers have argued that Victorino used violent threats to coerce their clients into joining him.